Incalescense
by sweeterthejuice
Summary: "It's been two years, six months, and four days; uh I mean- I think so - not that I've been keeping track or anything." Three years is a long time. Fletcher bumps into Olive in his art gallery in New York.
1. Nothing Was The Same

**I was a little upset that ANT Farm ended with Fletcher in NY. But the story doesn't have to end there, here's my take on what could've happened in the future!**

I tried to make this as IC as possible, but keep in mind a lot of time has passed, they've both matured and changed so please take that into account.

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"So what do you think of this piece?" Olive frowned at the husky voice that interrupted her reverie. She wasn't particularly in the mood to chat with strange men in an art gallery. They're usually pretentious jerks or idiots that pretend they know what they're talking about but knows next to nothing about art or its history.

Without turning to look at the stranger, she replied. "It's beautiful. As always. I've definitely seen better. From the artist, I mean. I've followed his work over the years, and this one lacks the passion that I've seen in his previous pieces. It's still good though." She curses herself inwardly for not just giving a one word answer. Alas the verbal diarrhoea could not be helped, and now this guy might actually think she's interested in him. Eugh.

When the stranger doesn't reply, Olive assumes that he has left. Tilting her head, she observes the painting one more time, she couldn't figure out what exactly was missing, but she knew it wasn't there. Fletcher's art has only improved over the years, and she was nothing short of impressed. But his most recent pieces felt empty to her. She sighs in frustration.

"Oh?"

_He's still here? _Olive thought scornfully.

"Yes?" She says curtly.

"I- You- Don't- it's _good_? Just _good_?!" The man squeaks out. Something about him seemed familiar, then again it was probably because this guy was starting to get on her nerves and majority of the men in her life got on her nerves.

"That's what I said, yes." She rolls her eyes and releases a deep breath.

Olive hears the man scoff behind her. "Lacking passion, like she even knows what passion is." He muttered. Her mouth drops and she clenches her fist, ready to pummel the guy behind her. She turns around and looks up at the idiot who thought he could get away with insulting her. "What is your _prob_-"

"Fletcher." She releases a surprised breath.

"Olive." He retorts, smirking.

Her hearts begin to race. Fletcher... It's Fletcher. Holy crap.

He has changed.

Not only was he a head taller than her, he had filled out, and seemingly exited his awkward phrase. There was an air of confidence around him. He wasn't the same slouching Fletcher that everyone enjoyed picking on in Webster or Z-Tech.

"You look different." She blurted out.

His furrowed brows straighten out and he begins to chuckle, shyly rubbing the back of his head. "Three years is a long time. The puberty stick had to hit me at some point right?"

"Oh, it hit you alright." Olive mutters.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, _I suppose you are right_." She effortlessly lies.

A beat of silence passes.

"So... what brings you to my art show?"

"Oh, you know... I was just around the neighbourhood; decided to stop by." Fletcher raises his brows in amusement. "You need to update your website by the way, I was informed that the artist - you - would only be present on Tuesday and Thursday. It's Friday, and yet, here you are. So you should really get that fixed. Anyway, I should get going." She begins to leave when she feels his hand on her arm. "Olive, wait." His voice sounded worried almost.

"Do you really need to go? I'd love to catch up with you. It's been a while since we've last..." Anything. It's been a long time since they'd last talked, last seen each other... last-

She lets out a melancholy chuckle. "It has been a while. It's been two years, six months, and four days; uh I mean- I think so - not that I've been keeping track or anything."

Instead of teasing her as he would've when he was younger, he simply smiled and said "Of course. How about we catch up over lunch? I'm starving."

Olive tells herself to calm down and that it was just a lunch. With Fletcher. She was going to have lunch with Fletcher. _The Fletcher. _The guy who was her best friend for practically her whole life, her ex-boyfriend, the guy who she hadn't spoken to in a very long time. And holy crap she could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Unable to speak, she nods in response.

"I'll take you to my favourite restaurant, you'll love it, I swear. But can you explain why you're actually in New York?"

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**What do you guys think so far? Are you interested to seeing more? :)**


	2. All Me

**Hey guys! Hope y'all like this one :) Review responses are below!**

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"So you're telling me that you've already gotten your Ph.D. in several subjects and you're going to be the youngest professor in the world?"

"Yes. Interesting factoid: Alia Sabur, born on February, 22, 1989 in New York, United States, finished her elementary school at age 5. From fourth grade, she jumped into the University and graduated with a (Summa cum laude) in Applied Mathematics from Stony Brooks University, New York at age 14. Three days before her 19th birthday she officially became the youngest Professor in history." She beamed at him as she finished recalling her facts.

Then as an afterthought she added, "Well, not any more, because I, Olive Daphne Doyle, at age 16 will officially become the youngest Professor in history next Monday." Though Fletcher had only caught half of what she said, he couldn't help the smile stretching across his lips. He never thought there'd be a day where he would be glad to hear an interesting factoid; but that day has come.

After a moment, he finally processes everything that she's said and he proceeds to gape at her.

He wasn't sure why he was surprised, this was something Olive has always been capable of doing, but it was still mind-blowing.

"Wow." He replied.

"Thank you." She said with a bright smile.

It was the first time in a long time that he had seen that smile again. That confident, natural, beautiful smile that graced her lips when she was in her element. It was one of the things that he had missed the most about her - one of the things he missed the most about everything that he had left in California.

"Why?" He finally breathed out.

"Well…" She looked down at her hands then sighed.

"When you left three years ago…" _I lost half of the people that mattered to me_, she thought. Olive then clears her throat to get those kind of thoughts out of her mind.

"I had to get used to being just 'Olive and Chyna', and I admit, it was a little hard... But we still had fun you know? It's always an adventure with Chyna. But then a year later, she got signed to Starr Records and as you and the rest of the world know, she's a total superstar now." She smiled sadly, but the pride was evident in her voice. "And I could not be happier for her, it's just unfortunate that we barely see each other any more since she's always on tour. We do our best to make time to hang out but it's just-"

Olive purses her lips. "I knew that this was a possibility, so the moment she got signed, I decided to get a head start, finish high school and get my degrees. Both of my best friends have started their lives, so I figured, so should I."

"Well, uh, umm, wow." Fletcher internally face palmed at his eloquence- or lack thereof.

Clearing his throat, he straightens his posture up and finds the confidence he'd acquired after all these years living in New York. "So, does that mean you're moving to New York?" He asked with an easy smile.

"Indefinitely, yes." She nods.

Fletcher raises his brows in surprise and his stomach flutters. He'd assumed that she was just there for the weekend, a week tops for vacation… maybe even just to visit him before she began her new life. He felt some irrational disappointment that she wasn't in New York to see him specifically, but that was overshadowed by the excitement he felt knowing that she was going to be living in the same city as him.

"Fletcher? Are you okay? You look constipated." She asked half amused and half concerned.

"What? No! I'm not constipated!" He replies a little too loudly, causing the other patrons to side eye him from their tables.

Clearing his throat he consciously lowers his voice and ducks his down, trying to avoid the stares.

"Are you su-"

"_Yes._ I'm sure." Fletcher cuts her off with a whisper.

After a beat of silence passes, Olive begins to laugh, which then turns into a cackle and soon enough Fletcher joins her. Her laugh was too infectious, and he had to admit, that was _kind of_ funny…

When their laughter died down, they continued to eat and catch up.

Olive shook her head and rested her chin on her fist. "So, how are you? Anything new?"

"Yeah! I ah- as you know I've just opened my art show, and the museum is going to showcase it for another week. Oh! And I've actually just moved in to my very own apartment!"

"Whoa, seriously?" Raising her brows, Olive asked impressed, yet also slightly doubtful. The Fletcher she remembered wasn't the type to move out on his own. She then remembers that he wasn't the same any more, he'd grown up. It's just… when they were teasing- well, when _she _was teasing him earlier, it felt like they were fourteen again. It felt like it was the way it used to be.

"Yeah! I moved in a few months ago. It's more of a warehouse really, for my artworks, but there's a bedroom, kitchen and a bathroom, so I'm happy."

"That is so cool! Why did you move out though?"

"Grandma Doddy kept bringing her "special friends" around too often, and I just couldn't stay there any more. _And_, there wasn't enough space there for my work, so… Yeah."

"New York apartments are incredibly expensive… Wow. You must be making a lot of money." Olive commented thoughtfully. Fletcher just chuckles shyly.

She was right, his apartment was definitely costing him some money, but since it was really more of an open space place, and less of a home he wasn't spending a fortune.

"So, where are you staying anyway?" Fletcher asked, changing the subject. He wasn't comfortable discussing how much he made from his art, not even with Olive.

"They offered me a room in one of the buildings on campus, specifically for staff. But I've also considered living off campus if I needed to, of course it would be more convenient if I just lived on the school grounds." Olive sneaks a look at the brown eyed boy and catches him smiling at her. He looked so happy, and so content, causing her heart to warm, and her cheeks flushing.

The buzz of Olive's phone breaks their moment.

"Oh crap, I've got to go. I'm supposed to meet the school board and the other professors today. It was nice seeing you Fletcher!" She began to pack her stuff up and stood up from her chair.

Fletcher is wide eyed, a little surprised at how quickly their lunch had come to an end, but before Olive could run out of the restaurant he called after her. "Hey Olive!"

She turned around, nervously biting her lip. "Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I give you a call soon? I'd like to see you again." He said sheepishly.

It begins to worry him when Olive doesn't reply for a few seconds. Then, a smile began to pull against the corners of her mouth.

"I'd love that. It would be nice to have a friend around here."

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**Thank you for all the lovely feedback! I really appreciate it and the reviews do make me update faster and more often so keep em coming!**

I PROMISE SOMETHING INTERESTING NEXT CHAPTER ;)

Yes, I am definitely going to keep writing, as long as you guys are interested in seeing more! And as for reviewer "Fan", you're right. See, I wrote it as Olive keeping track of just how many days it's been because of how much she missed him, not that it was particularly difficult for her. But she had no intention of letting Fletcher know that, so when she rattled off the exact days without a second thought, she attempted to play it cool by pretending not to know for sure. But that was a dumb move because it only gives her away since she _does _have eidetic memory lol. 


	3. Too Much

**Sorry for the wait, but I hope y'all like this one! :) Just fyi I use British spelling! So if the spelling looks off, that's why. :P Or it's a just a typo. Which I apologize for and I promise I will edit them later.  
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It had been a few days since they saw each other last, but they had been talking every day since Olive's been in New York. Any time either of them weren't busy, they sought the other out. The need to talk to each other was addictive almost; after all those years of no contact, it was as if Olive and Fletcher were afraid they'd lose each other again.

"So... I was thinking..." Fletcher cleared his throat, thanking the universe that Olive couldn't seem him through his cellphone. He was all red and sweating like a chicken on a rotisserie.

"Yes?" Olive prompted him.

"Well, if you weren't busy, and you probably are, being a professor and all, but if you aren't-"

"Just get on with it Fletcher."

"Fine! Jeez! How do you feel about coming over for dinner on Friday night? Just so we could catch up on each other's week and... everything. I'll cook." His voice wavered at first, much to his dismay, but he plucked up the courage and told himself there was nothing to be nervous about. It was just a nice friendly dinner... with his friend Olive. That was it. A very platonic non-date dinner... with a friend. Yep.

"Oh!" She said in surprise.

Fletcher's palms start to sweat and he shakes his head at himself. He thought he'd grown out of that! But being around Olive again seemed to bring back the Fletcher that he used to be. The fluttering of butterflies seemed to return too... or perhaps it was just the Chipotle he had for lunch... After a few more seconds of silence on Olive's end, the brown eyed boy blurted out, "Like I said though if you're busy I totally get it. I mean you're probably going to be exhausted-"

"I'll be there at 7. Anyway I've got some papers to grade. I'll see you then Fletcher!"

With raised brows, he was left with the sound of the dial tone.

And just when he thought he had girls figured out, she goes and confuses him even more.

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Fletcher had nothing to do at all on that day, and though he usually treasured his day offs, he was not thankful for the lack of distractions. He only managed to get three hours sleep from over thinking about tonight and the moment he woke up he began to clean. _Clean._

See, he was the type of guy to just leave his bed unmade because by the time he gets back in his bed, he'd just sleep anyway. Cause what would be the point, y'know? He'll mess it up again anyway and it's not like he gets any visitors on the regular. But today... The day where he had invited Olive over for dinner, he worried himself over getting the place squeaky clean.

Olive appreciated organization and if she saw the mess that Fletcher's apartment actually was, she'd probably start berating him. Nobody had the time for that. These were the kind of the thoughts that plagued Fletcher's mind, these were also the thoughts that kept him up till two in the morning, then woke him up at five. He was definitely more than a little sleep deprived.

But after hours and hours of hard work and a handful of panic attacks, his apartment was finally ready and the dinner he prepared just needed to be served- and it was only 6:55pm!

Suddenly, he heard a knock.

Straightening up, his heart raced. Quickly, he looked at his reflection, fixed his hair and smoothed down his dress shirt. Then he casually- or well he tried to- walk to the door and open it. "Hey." He smirked, and to appear cool and suave, he leans on his coat rack, but he only ends up falling to the ground along with the said coat rack.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Olive bends down to help Fletcher up.

He groans from the impact of his head and the floor, but forgets about the pain when he realizes that Olive's face was only inches from his. Clearing his throat, he replies. "I'm fine." Fletcher gets up, flashes her a smile and takes her coat. "Let me get that for you." He turns around and picks up the coat rack and hangs her pea coat on it.

Fletcher is taken aback by the sight that meets him when he looks back at Olive. He gapes at her for a few seconds. She was wearing a white lace dress, and her face glowed. She looked like an actual angel.

"Wow."

"What?"

"Oh, I- I was just-... " He let outs a sigh and decided that nothing was wrong with telling her the truth. "You look beautiful." He smiled at her flushed cheeks and was glad that he wasn't the only one who could fluster the other.

She collects herself and smiles back at him. "Thank you."

"Well, come on, my Chicken Parmesan is starting to get cold!" He offered his arm, and she took it with a grin.

"Wow, your place is a lot cleaner than I thought it would be." She commented thoughtfully as she looked around.

They sat down and began to talk seamlessly. It was so easy for them to get to talking like all those years of no communication had never happened. They talked about anything they could think of, and they shared a lot memories and laughter.

Fletcher then cleared his throat. "Umm, so... Is there a special someone back in California for you?" He didn't even try to be subtle.

Olive smiled cheekily. "So you want to know if I have boyfriend huh?"

"Maybe."

"Well, I don't. I'm currently single."

"Oh okay. Good... I mean, not like good, _good, _I just mean-"

"Are you dating anyone?" She asked, saving him from his misery. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Nope. Not at all. I'm single and ready to mingle." Fletcher beamed at her and she couldn't help but shake her head and giggle.

She nods her head with a smile. "Good to know."

Olive tilts her head and raised her brows. "Just out of curiosity, have you dated, since... you know..." She wasn't sure why she couldn't say the words, a very small part of her insisted that it's because it was humiliating she ever even dated him, but she knew that was complete bull. She just wasn't ready, she supposed.

Fletcher had a look of fear and guilt in his eyes. And right then, Olive knew the answer.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't mind if you dated other girls."

"You don't?"

"No. I mean that would be completely hypocritical of me."

"Oh, okay... WAIT. _Hypocritical of you? _You dated other guys?!"

"Why, is that a problem?" Olive cocked her right brow and crossed her arms at him.

Fletcher wanted to scream out _of course, _but he realized he had no right. He had dated other girls too... but... Just the thought of Olive with other guys made his blood boil.

He bit the inside of his cheek and muttered. "No."

The brown eyed boy lifted his head and looked at Olive solemnly. "But, just to let you know, I've only dated three girls... It never lasted. Being with... them... it didn't feel right, you know?" She met his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah. My relationships, if you could even call it that, never lasted too long either. What with my school work and all, I just didn't have a lot of time to spend time with them."

"Who exactly did you date?"

"Well, there was Alex Meyers, funniest guy I've ever met. We only dated for a month or so. Then after him was Remy, he's a musician and he had the softest hair, almost as soft as mine but we only dated for three weeks because he had to move back to Nashville. Then came Harry, and that barely lasted a week, he was a good kisser though, then there was James with the really nice jawline, oh and-"

"Okay, never mind! You can stop now!" His voice a pitch higher than normal, nostrils flared and flushed skin. Clearing his throat he looked away from her and changes the subject. "You know what, I haven't even asked you how your first week as a professor went. So how do you like it?"

Thankfully, Olive dropped the subject with no complaints.

"Well, my students so far are pretty great, but majority of them are more fascinated by me, or well, my age and eidetic memory more than the subject matter. It's better than the condescending tones I have prepared myself for though. Unfortunately, there are a couple of professors who lived up to that expectation."

"Are they bothering you?"

Olive's demeanour completely changed as she let out a long sigh. "They just think that I'm not good enough to be working with them."

"That's ridiculous! You're better than they could ever be."

"True. But that doesn't mean they aren't irritating the heck out of me. Worst part is, they're my neighbours too. So not only do they undermine me before and after my classes, it's like they're doing whatever they can to drive me crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to get rid of me to be honest." Olive sighed, rolling her eyes. When she had first seen Fletcher fall to the ground, it was like the weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She managed to forget about all the stress she was put under in the past week.

But now, being reminded of what a nightmare it actually was, only put that pressure back on. She was definitely not going to back down and quit. But living in that dorm room was becoming unbearable. Olive continues to let out her frustrations on Fletcher for the next hour.

"It's only been a week, and I'm exhausted Fletcher! And I love being a professor so far. I wouldn't give it up for anything, but I thought only getting eight hours of sleep was bad, now I'm barely getting five each night. I'm getting eye bags! _Eye bags_ Fletcher!"

The boy hadn't responded in a while, and though Olive was appreciative of him just listening to her rant, she wondered what he could be thinking so hard about. "Fletcher?"

He lifts his head up and she finds a determined look in his eyes.

"Move in with me."

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**DUN DUN DUN.**

**Thank you so much for the reviews, I really do the appreciate them all, and each one of you who left one are the reason this chapter is even up. I couldn't have done it without you guys! No seriously, every time I got a new review, I would work on the chapter so thank you again! :)**

**Oh and reviewer sneezing turtle: Great minds think alike! I laughed when I saw your review, cause I was like Hey! How'd you know where I was going with this! ;) **


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